Finding a string quartet or jazz band

Ok so it's your husband's birthday and you've got to put on  a birthday party. What on earth are you going to do? Then you have the brilliant idea, he is a mad keen guitarist, absolutely loves playing guitar and he thinks he's great (hmm). That's it, find a guitarist to play his birthday party. No, that might be a bit tame, find a guitarist and finding a band,  find a jazz band including a guitar, like this band, because it's jazz that he is really mad keen on.

Finding a jazz band you can hire

But where on earth do I find a jazz band? You look on the Internet, entering ‘jazz bands’ and all you can find are bands in London, and you're in Yorkshire. Famous old time swing band biographies and CDs. That's no good. You just want to find some local bands,  perhaps people who have some connection  with the area  you live in. So you try to find local bands. The library. That's the place the library. You go down to the library and look on the notice board. There are plumbers, yoga classes,  ladies circle, Bowling Club but not a jazz band to be seen.

 Then you remember years back you used to go to a pub in a nearby Village who had a jazz band play on Friday nights. You make some lame excuse about a girls night and sneak off to the pub without your husband knowing where you're going. The pub looks different inside. You've never seen the barman before. You asking about jazz bands. He looked puzzled, scratches head and then slows says “ oooohh arrr, I remembers years ago the previous publican use to get a jazz band in. When I took over it was all too complicated for me, so I didn't ask them back. No, I've no idea what  the jazz band was called, I just remember there was a saxophone, trumpet, guitar and double bass.”

  There. The jazz band that used to play in the pub had a guitar, exactly what you want, but you're no closer to finding a Jazz Band for your beloved’s 40th birthday party.

What on earth are you going to do? You slink home sullenly  and make some lame comment about what a wonderful girl’s evening it'd been. The husband goes to bed. You sit at the computer staring at the screen. In frustration you type ‘find me a band’.  Every sort of band comes up including wedding bands, or wedding rings, that horrific americanism which really means wedding rings. Why can't the American speak proper English?

Find your jazz band online

So you type in ‘find me a Jazz Band’. You're in the same problem that you had before. Jazz bands appear that are based in every place except where you live.  

In frustration you type ‘find me a jazz band in Worcestershire’ (Because that's where you live. It would be rather daft to type in find me a jazz band in Yorkshire if you really live in Worcestershire wouldn't it!),You add “you stupid machine” at the end!  Up come some music agencies ( Including the midsummer music agency) and also some bands that are in fact local to you.  There you are, You've got the hang of it now. You are finding bands that are relevant to you.

You can either contact a number of individual bands  directly or,  if you want a much bigger choice of jazz bands with the knowledge that they are local to you, good quality and experienced playing at a brithday party, have a look at one of the agency sites. Our own agency, the midsummer music Agency, will give you a page of bands who play in your local area, excluding bands that are a long way from you. It's not economic sense for bands to travel a long way, and most of jazz musicians don't like traveling anyway, they like playing music.

 So that is the way to find Jazz bands that are local to you, typing things like Jazz bands in Hampshire, jazz bands in Essex, jazz bands in Sheffield, Jazz bands in Yorkshire or wherever it is that you live. Google is very good at sorting out those website that show you what you're looking for and remember, you have the choice of going directly bands or finding bands from a music agency who have done all the hard work for you of finding, selecting and categorising bands for you and who will have an efficient and easy to use booking system, complete with contracts that ensure that the band will turn up to your event on time.

Find your ceilidh band on line

It's a somewhat similar process if you're trying to find a String Quartet or locate a Ceilidh band or a barn dance band, but there are some subtle differences.

How do you go about finding a Ceilidh band or a barn dance band? ( do you know the difference between a Ceilidh band and the barn dance band?  What's the difference between an  Irish Ceilidh Band, an American barn dance band or an English barn dance band, or a Scottish ceilidh band? I've written about these differences elsewhere in my musings if you want to have a look.)

 Anyway, back to the subject in hand, Finding a Ceilidh Band. Many parts the country have folk clubs, often meeting in pubs. But not all parts of the UK have this tradition. You will find many folk clubs in parts of Yorkshire but probably a lot fewer in counties like Essex which are much more urbanised.

So you could start searching for your barn dance band (perhaps this time it’s the husband searching for a barn dance for their wife's 40th birthday). Searching pubs for a barn dance band is a good place for any man, because you can have a pint at each  pub where you are unsuccessful. It's better to have a pint at every pub where you failed to find a Ceilidh Band because that way you will get lots of drinks in, whereas if you have a drink at every pub where you succeeded finding a Ceilidh Band you are likely to end up the evening sober.

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